Public Policy Network

You can identify a real English soccer fan (from either side of the pond) by the fact that they get as much pleasure in a defeat suffered by their most bitter rival as they do in the victory of their favorite team. This condition, known as schadenfreude, has manifestations beyond sports. Schadenfreude is broadly defined as the pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. On this topic, Wikipedia notes (if it is in Wikipedia, it must be true): "This emotion is displayed more in children than adults; however, adults also experience schadenfreude, but they are just better at concealing their expressions."

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In Peanuts, the cartoon featuring Charlie Brown and his neighborhood friend, Lucy van Pelt, there were regular episodes of Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown to kick. Though Lucy had - on every occasion - pulled the football from Charlie's path and squashed his best efforts to kick it, Charlie always held out hope that the next time would be different. Still, he continued to miss the withdrawn ball and end up flat on his back. He could not help it. Good old Charlie Brown.

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Cherry blossoms, opening day and the looming Stanley Cup playoffs are providing Washington with pleasant, much-needed diversions from the grim partisanship that usually dominates the town. While these diversions (in the case of baseball and hockey) can end as soul-crushing disappointments, at least there is some fleeting optimism. That optimism is harder to find in our government, but there are a number of significant policy developments quietly moving forward on several fronts.

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The first month of 2019 was dominated in Washington by the longest federal shutdown in history. A temporary funding bill reopened government for three weeks, and then, on Feb. 15, government was funded until the end of FY 2019, which occurs on Sept. 30. The shutdown resulted from a dispute over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

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On Dec.22, the government was shut down over a disagreement between congressional Democrats and the President over funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border. At that point, there were 49 Democrats in the Senate, enough to deny the 60 votes to pass a government funding bill that had cleared the Republican-controlled House. Less than two weeks later, in a new Congress, Democrats had 47 votes in the Senate, still enough to deny the requisite 60 votes. On the House side, more than 100 new members were sworn in, most of them Democrats, giving that party control of the House.

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Centuries ago, some Native American tribes practiced a custom known as "burying the hatchet," which was an important step towards ending conflict, establishing peace and paving the way for cooperation between previously warring factions. Delaware adopted this tradition more than 150 years ago. On Return Day, the day following an election, politicians who had competed for state, federal and local offices gather in Georgetown, Delaware to parade together and actually bury a ceremonial hatchet. This helps remind everyone that bipartisan cooperation inures to the benefit of the entire state. Delaware's practice could serve as an example to those active in politics across the nation.

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